Who runs Seattle? McGinn/Council tensions peak

The long-simmering tension between the City Council and Mayor Mike McGinn has finally reached full boil.

Though the battle is over the tunnel replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the war is much broader: Who runs the city?

On Friday McGinn said City Council President Richard Conlin violated the City Charter and state law when, on Thursday, he signed a draft environmental impact statement and sent it back to the state. McGinn said Conlin overstepped his authority – he’s from the legislative branch and McGinn is the executive.

“If we cannot follow the charter, then how does the government work?” McGinn asked at a news conference. “It’s separation of powers. There’s only one mayor, it’s just the way it works.”

A quick read of the charter would suggest that Conlin was out of line. Though he spoke to to attorneys in the city’s legal department, City Attorney Peter Holmes was not consulted. His office is promising to say more about the matter later Friday. (UPDATE: Here’s Holmes’ answer, which is clear as mud).

The kerfuffle over an EIS seems silly, and it is. Conlin said the deadline to the state for the study was Thursday. McGinn thought he had an agreement to take another week to look at it, but the state apparently balked. Conlin wrote his John Hancock down because he didn’t want to “lose access and ability to review draft documents and risk losing (state) funding.”

McGinn correctly pointed out that there have been several delays in the tunnel project and that the City Council got a six-month extension on a far more serious matter – a former agreement between the city and state to actually build the $4.2 billion project – earlier this year. What’s the big deal with an EIS? While there was a question looming at City Hall as to whether the city was still an “equal partner” with the state on the tunnel project because of the confusion at Fourth and James, the drama shows just how dysfunctional things are now.

When Mayor Greg Nickels was defeated last year, the City Council thought it would finally get to throw its weight around. They were bullied and bruised by Nickels and his No. 2., Tim “the Shark” Ceis, who reasserted executive control they felt had gone slack under their predecessor, Paul Schell. Conlin et al thought a rookie mayor in 2010 would allow them to set the agenda.

Enter McGinn. He makes Nickels look like Miss Manners. He can be brusque, has not kept the Council in the loop and truly hates the viaduct tunnel. And on Friday he wanted to make it clear that he is the executive and the Council is the legislative branch.

Conlin meets the press Friday

Conlin said he thought McGinn was overreacting.
“It’s not a contract, it’s not an agreement; it’s not legislation,” Conlin said of the draft EIS. “All we’re doing is saying this can go forward to the public…I did not want a confrontation with the mayor,” he said.

At a news conference Friday Conlin was asked what Seattleites should make of this political theater.

“I really want to say I’m sorry that this is happening. I really regret that we’ve wound up in this situation. I took the action I took because I thought it was necessary to protect the interests of the people of Seattle,” Conlin said. “I hope that the mayor will come along and see that this was the right action to take and not let his personal feelings about it – which I understand, I understand why he’s concerned about that – I hope doesn’t let that ultimately stand in the way of making the right decision.”

Later, Conlin added: “It’s very clear the way our city is governed is … by our charter and by our ordinances. The City Council can pass ordinances, which basically require departments to do certain things. The Council appropriates money and can prohibit the spending on certain things. The mayor controls whether spending actually takes place. So, there are a lot of checks and balances in the charter. We continue to have that wonderful productive tension that the federalist system provides. So, sometime the process, it’s not as clear it’s could be.”

At his news conference, McGinn said “separation of powers still means something.”